We are remodelling our bathroom and I am looking for some advice on how we can make the best long lasting choices for our automated bathroom.
We want electrical floor heating. I saw people recommend the HeatIt thermostats, can I use those with all types of electrical floor heating? Any other advice than HeatIt?
We want a mirror that can prevent to be steamed-up. And of course some lights in it that can be dimmed and can have different white levels. No need for all sorts of colors.
Any other generic advice? We’re not going to implement smart showers, because I don’t think it adds that much
Awesome project! For the lights I’d recommend some LED strips needly tucked away for some indirect mood light. We just did a Best Buy Guide on LED strip controllers so that might be worth a read. Just a regular smart LED strip would work as well of course.
What I did in my bathroom is also install a motion sensor that also measures temperature and humidity, to play nicely with the extraction fan (e.g. humidity too high → fan on). But you can also get that data from the thermostat probably.
Ah, right completely forgot about that: motion sensor is already available and will be taken along in the new setup.
Same goes for humidity sensor and control of the extraction fan. I am so much used to that, that I forgot to mention it
And I also have an IKEA speaker in the bathroom with all sort of integration in Homey. That will be taken along as well. In due time there will also be a TV with (most likely) Google TV.
Instead of a motion sensor, I recommend a presence sensor. A presence sensor will detect you even if you’re sitting still on the toilet for a long time or showering behind the glass door in the shower.
In my own bathroom, I’ve actually solved this by combining the motion sensor with humidity readings and the extraction fan. We don’t have a toilet in the bathroom, so there’s no need to worry about suddenly being left in the dark while doing a number two
Using Zone Activity, I have it set up to automatically turn off all the lights if there’s been no activity for 3 minutes. However, if the humidity rises sharply within those 3 minutes, Homey assumes someone is showering and keeps the lights on until the humidity drops back to normal again.
For determining what’s “normal”, I use a rolling humidity average rather than a fixed threshold. That way, it automatically accounts for seasonal changes in baseline humidity and works reliably year-round.
LED strips in a bathroom are a waste of time due to the complexity of getting them cables in, the humidity + they draw a lot more power than you think they do.
Also, where will you put the controller and the power supply, which is likely going to need to be 24v
My dad (who did 80% of mine with me) installed strips and he massively regrets it. Electrician for 50 years.
I have 4x Aqara RGB CCT GU10s in mine and they work great on a low brightness in the evening, either at 2000k WW or as red after 10pm so we don’t introduce white or blue light to our eyes before bed or during the night.
I use an FP300 + Eve Weather to turn on the shower fan + lighting and we use a Hue button to switch between scenes for bath time vs normal operation
Sonoff Mini Duo Matter over wifi relay behind the switch box located outside the bathroom, meaning no switches inside.
You could use a Shelly or the new Wago relays of course if reliability is a concern
That was quite important as we have very large rectangular tiles floor to ceiling.
Happy to send over a video over how we did this, around three years ago
Do not use WiFi bulbs in a bathroom. Tiling is notorious for preventing a good signal back to the router, whereas GU10s are in the ceiling so much better reception (ideally you should use IP65 fire rated downlight fixings too)
For the maximum allowed humidity I’ve chosen 5% higher compared to the average, but you can play with that a bit based on how quickly you want it to trigger.
We’e only going to use LED strips for accent lighting or lighting in a closet. For the overhead lighting we’re just going to use GU10 spots. Of course smart ones.
If you have a video that you can share, that is very much appreciated!
I am planning a similar upgrade. I currently have a larger 6in fan that will have a matter relay added for simple on off. There is an IKEA temp sensor that will add data for the flows to turn the fan on and off. The logic I am looking at will evaluate the outdoor humidity and compare with the bathroom, if the bathroom is higher turn on the fan. Simplistic, yes, but I don’t really need more. Either use one of my external temp and humidity sensors or online weather integration.
I will be putting in an aqara H2 light switch in for the lighting (dumb lights) and using the switch just for lighting.
Adding in an aqara fp300 presence sensor to turn on some kickboard lights (yet to be determined) and set them dim for asleep hours. The presence sensor will also be used to turn the fan on for 10 minutes after someone uses the toilet, because I can and should.
I will also be putting in a wall cabinet with dumb led lights on the front with demisting. But the one I like has usb socket inside for charging my toothbrush.
We did a lot of various automated integrations when we remodeled our bathroom. Since your situation may be different, I’ll start with what I think might apply to YOU (and frankly everyone), and then go down in descending order of relevance.
Kickboard LED strip (Ikea- multi-color capable is KEY) under the cabinet kickboards. Then we have a motion sensor, but a presence sensor would be fine too. At night if we need to get up to go, you know, pee, as you walk in the kickboard lights come on in dim red. This gives you enough illumination to navigate fine, but a) not so bright as to be glaring, and b) red so that it doesn’t mess up your night vision. We are SUPER happy with this (and obv. have this flow only trigger from 10pm - 6am).
One of our bathroom windows (second floor bath) is viewable from the street if you’re standing up, but you want the view from the bathtub (at which point you can’t reach the shade). So we have a Matter Over Thread top down/bottom up motorized blind in that window. At night it automatically closes. In the morning it automatically lowers from the top so no one can see inside but you get light. At 8am it totally opens. At 2pm it closes the bottom,
We have hidden a (Sonos) speaker in the bathroom, an electric water vapor fireplace, and we have three different sets of lights (it is, to be fair, a LARGE bathroom with a raised platform and tub and (electric) fireplace).
Anyway, the lightswitch coming into the room has a scene controller. If you want the lights on, hit the main switch and all three light sets come on.
If you are going to take a bath, hit the blue “bathtime” button and… Speaker starts playing classical music, the lights dim, the under cabinet lights slowly change colors, and the electric fireplace gets going (those water vapor fireplaces are truly amazing BTW), the up/down blinds move to only open the top so no one can see in until you get in the tub (at which point you open it for a great view of the mountains). We also have a bunch of LED candles around the room and up in alcoves, but have yet to get an IR blaster to turn those all on at the same time. Another project for another time.
Other scene controllers do other things (also triggered off phone or button next to bathtub) so, for instance, “End Bathtime” turns all the lights on, stops the music, drops the under cabinet lighting, kills the fireplace.
It’s all super slick and works great.
(In our case we have no need for a fan to run to control humidity as a) we live in the most ridiculous arid climate and keep a HUMIDIFIER on all year just to keep the RH at ~35-40%, and we have no bath fans anyway as we have an ERV that is pulling 20cfm 24/7/365 from all bathrooms, and bring in fresh air to the house while exchanging the heat between the exhaust and intake; one of the advantages of building a super tight house… no bath fans, no fan noise, fewer envelope penetrations, better air quality control)
